| | |  | STUDIO GHIBLI LIBRARY | Home » » » Bokurano: Ours, Vol. 1 | | | | | | | Description: | | R to L (Japanese Style). Saving the world is hard. Saving yourself is even harder. One summer, 15 kids innocently wander into a nearby seaside cave. There they meet a strange man who invites them to play an exciting new video game. Sounds like fun, right? This game, he explains, pits a lone giant robot against a horde of alien invaders. All they have to do is sign a simple little contract. The game stops being fun when the kids find out the true purpose of their deadly pact. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Mohiro Kitoh | | Paperback:
| 200 pages | | Publisher:
| VIZ Media LLC | | Publication Date:
| February 16, 2010 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 1421533618 | | Product Length:
| 8.18 inches | | Product Width:
| 6.22 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.64 inches | | Product Weight:
| 0.45 pounds | | Package Length:
| 8.19 inches | | Package Width:
| 5.75 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.79 inches | | Package Weight:
| 0.66 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 2 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Another Fine Addition to VIZ's Signature LineJul 08, 2010
By GraphicNovelReporter.com
Seventh graders Takashi Waku, Masaru Kodaka, Maki Ano and their friends are participating in a summer nature school. One afternoon the fourteen teens, along with one boy's fourth-grade sister, discover a cave down by the beach. Going further into the cave, they stumble upon a mysterious computer lab and a man who goes by the name Kokopelli. Kokopelli offers the kids the opportunity to participate in a game. They'll use a giant robot to fight aliens who are invading the planet. The kids eagerly agree, but it is not until the "game" begins that they realize the danger they are in.
Kitoh's manga starts off slowly, leading readers deeper into it as if they themselves were entering the sinister cave. Volume one is just setup for what is to come, but by the last chapter, we realize that things are not what we thought them to be. The planet is different than expected, the kids are not as simple as adults would like to believe, and the robotic war seems to cover a large scale than just one planet. These are all still hints, but they are intriguing enough to engage readers and leave them eager for volume two, which seems likely to ramp up the excitement and danger.
The kids are unique main characters. Kitoh starts off by making them rather ordinary. They look and act like a lot of kids and it is easy to make the mistake of dismissing them. After the setup of the first three chapters, the last three allow two different children to stand apart. During their chapters the story is told from their point of view, allowing readers to get inside their heads. It is then that readers begin to see that each kid is starting to become the adult he or she will grow up to be, whether for good or ill. As seventh graders, the kids are old enough to recognize adult mistakes and triumphs and to decide for themselves whether or not to emulate the role models around them. It is that opportunity that offers tension and depth to this story.
The art is clear and easy, but, as with the children, deeper than it first appears. There is a faint sinister atmosphere haunting the tale, hinted at by slanted, knowing eyes and toothy grins, especially on the part of a character who claims to be assisting the children. Kitoh's slightly scratchy lines shape bodies that are believably middle-school-aged, but they are equally effective at the dark, mechanical outlines of the fighting robots. Nothing is overly violent, but death is a part of this tale. That, along with the dark storyline, makes this more appropriate for and of interest to older teens and adults. Overall this is another fine addition to VIZ's Signature line.
-- Snow Wildsmith
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
 Not Your Everyday MechaApr 07, 2010
By Elias L. Blondeau
"Atlanta Fried Otaku and Hardened Brony"
Stop me if you've heard this one before: a group of kids with conflicting personalities must work together to pilot
a giant robot and save humanity from extinction. Not exactly the most original set-up, I know. However, Mohiro Kitoh,
author of "Shadow Star" (which I've heard is excellent, but have not seen for myself), takes this established
manga/anime trope and steers it in a bold new direction, the likes of which I haven't seen since Hideaki Anno decided
that all of the "Evangelion" pilots should have emotional complexes.
It's not often that I compare a mecha-oriented manga or anime to "Evangelion", but "Bokurano: Ours" is just THAT good.
Taking the stereotypes anime fans have come to expect from this sort of thing and turning them right on their head,
"Bokurano: Ours" proves near the end of the first volume that this isn't going to be what you thought it was. If you're
looking for a black-and-white, triumphant tale of children overcoming their differences in order to fight evil... well,
you'd better go pick up the latest big-name shonen manga, because that ain't what's going down here.
What IS going down, though, is a brutal examination of the human condition, told through the always-reliable medium of
children. Using his characters' simplistic thoughts to serve a greater purpose, Kitoh weaves a tale both light-hearted
and bleak, simultaneously uplifting and terrifying... and this is just in the first volume. I have no idea as to what
direction the plot will take next, but you can be sure that I'll be following it with bated breath.
The focal point here is the plot, but that doesn't by any means mean that the art is half-hearted. Kitoh's art is
no frills; no extraneous little details, no lavish backgrounds. However, it's beautiful in it's execution of simplicity.
There's no clutter that one would see in other mecha manga, and the characters are realistic yet stylized enough to
remind you that you're reading a manga.
"Bokurano:Ours" is one of the best very series I've read in a while. Paced like a shonen manga but laced with the drama
seen in seinen, Kitoh's parable for the cruelty of human beings is one that should not be missed by any purveyor of
manga.
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